Wenger Backs Scrapping FIFA Private Investment Plan
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- Arsène Wenger, FIFA's chief of global football development, said scrapping the private investment plan was 'absolutely necessary and beyond question,' and stated he 'was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports.'
- Gianni Infantino's scrapped proposal would have created a commercial subsidiary letting external investors buy stakes in World Cups and other FIFA events, with each of FIFA's 211 member associations offered $40m (£30m) if they backed it.
- UEFA's 55 nations threatened to boycott all FIFA tournaments, forcing Infantino to withdraw the plan after days of criticism.
- Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned over the scandal — the only FIFA official to do so — calling the proposal 'a bad deal for football' that would 'mortgage football's future.'
- Mattias Grafström, FIFA secretary general and a close Infantino ally since 2016, told staff in an internal memo the previous week had been 'difficult to comprehend and accept' and labeled events 'a sad and reproachable series.'
- Wenger is one of 18 FIFA officials named in a document preservation letter UEFA sent threatening legal action over the proposal.
Why it matters: Even one of Infantino's most senior lieutenants publicly distanced himself from the plan and admitted he was kept in the dark — an unusually public rebuke from inside FIFA. With UEFA threatening legal action against 18 named officials and Cordeiro's resignation as the lone staff casualty, the fallout now extends beyond policy into a governance crisis that could constrain how FIFA commercializes its tournaments going forward.
